The invention relates, generally, to X-ray detectors, and more particularly, to a detector drawer for an X-ray detector and receptacle for the detector drawer. The detector drawer has a stop actuator by which a stop for limiting an insertion motion of the drawer can be actuated, and the receptacle has a stop which can limit an insertion motion of the drawer by means of a stop actuator.
Detector drawers for inserting X-ray detectors are used in X-ray examination equipment, or X-ray systems for short. X-ray systems have an X-ray source for generating X-rays that pass through a body to be examined radiologically and are then detected by an X-ray detector. The X-ray detector, either a conventional sheet film system or a digital detector, is for that purpose positioned in the X-ray beam generated by the X-ray source. The positioning is done via a detector drawer into which the X-ray detector is placed and which is inserted, with the detector in place, into a receptacle of the X-ray system.
In Bucky systems, for example, the patient to be examined lies on a patient examination or supporting table and X-rays originating from an X-ray source disposed above the table pass through him. The receptacle for the detector drawer can be pulled out like a drawer so that the X-ray detector can be placed in it and is then pushed in again. The X-ray detector is thus positioned underneath the patient.
Currently available Bucky systems are usually designed for analog X-ray detectors on the basis of sheet film systems, since digital X-ray detectors have only been available quite recently. From International Patent Disclosure WO 01/33921, it is known to convert a Bucky system designed for analog detectors into a digital system by inserting a digital X-ray detector into the receptacle of the patient examination table instead of the analog X-ray film cassette. As such, the detector is installed in an adaptively configured detector drawer. Both the detector drawer and the X-ray detector are adaptively designed and configured to one another. To make different picture-taking formats possible, such as landscape and portrait, the detector can be rotated in the detector drawer.
Desirably, one may want to use a commercially available portable digital X-ray detector that does not have to be a priori adapted to the detector receptacle. Such detectors have an electric cable connection for supplying power and for transmitting the detector signals. The electrical cable is to be taken into account when the detector is inserted into the detector drawer; the cable may not become kinked nor sheared off. The electrical cable may therefore extend in general in such a way as to extend out of the receptacle opening in the patient examination table. From there, the electrical cable may lead to a control unit for the X-ray system. Such trailing cable may present a potential risk of stumbling and be a hindrance to medical personnel walking up to or moving around the patient examination table. Depending on the intended examination, however, the capability of approaching the patient from all sides may be an unavoidable necessity.
In order to reach the patient from either side of the patient examination table to suit a given situation, without problems in manipulating the detector drawer, a patient examination table with a receptacle open on two sides for the drawer is known from the X-ray system known as Uroskop D, made by Siemens AG. A system with a receptacle open on two sides is also disclosed in German Patent Disclosure DE 30 34 282. A detector drawer can be inserted from both open sides of the receptacle. If a portable digital X-ray detector is used, the receptacle open on two sides and corresponding sides of the examination table could be used in such a way that the detector is inserted from one side of the examination table from which medical personnel do not need to approach the patient. One can thus be assured that the cable does not have to be in the way of the medical personnel.
However, in the receptacles that are open on both sides as described, there may potentially be a risk that the detector drawer will be pushed unintentionally from one side through to the other even though a detector is located in it. While this arrangement may be unproblematic for an analog detector without a cable, in a digital detector with a cable extended out of the receptacle, and in particular a portable detector, there is the risk that the cable may be subjected to severe tensile stress as the drawer is pushed through or may become damaged or be sheared off inside the receptacle and hence suffer or incur damage. Avoiding such damage is thus dependent on the care and attention paid by the person or user operating the X-ray system. This configuration may require concentration from the medical personnel, and in particular, may distract the medical professional from the actual task at hand.